


Ghosts of Christmas Past

by RoguishRobin



Series: Pridemas [5]
Category: Pride (2014)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Family, M/M, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 15:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8850175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoguishRobin/pseuds/RoguishRobin
Summary: The members of LGSM reminisce about days gone by and what shaped them to be who they are.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this.

Steph raised the glass to her lips and took a sip, the whiskey burned her throat deliciously on the way down. She looked around at all her friends and was filled with a feeling of warmth, comfort, and security. This was all she had ever wished for as a child. Her dad had left when she had been six and nothing had been the same at home. Her mother hadn’t been able to cope and took all her frustrations and disappointments out on her daughter. All Steph had wanted from Father Christmas was a stable and loving family like all the other children in her class.

 

Jeff stared at his pink bike in wonder, it even had silver sparkly handlebar streamers, and then he stared at Joe. 

“What…? How…?” he stammered and Joe laughed out loud, relief mingling with elation that his surprise had worked so well.

“I know that you always wanted one as a child and considering how emotional you got when you told me about the time your sister got one, I thought this might be an appropriate gift.”

“It is, you’re the best.” Jeff threw himself at his wonderful boyfriend letting Joe catch him and squeeze him tightly.

“This is the best present ever Joe, thank you,” he whispered into his neck, eyes brimming with tears and voice trembling with emotion.

“You’re welcome babe,” Joe replied, leaning down slightly to press a kiss to Jeff’s lips.

“Come on! Let’s go outside I want to try it out.”

Joe laughed and slowed his boyfriend pointing to another gift under the tree. “I think you’ll want to open Gethin’s and Jonathan’s gift first.”

Jeff screeched as the pink helmet was revealed underneath the wrapping paper and hugged the two men in question.

“Alright, now let’s go,” he cried jubilantly.

 

“I’m serious Gethin, what did you want? What did tiny little Gethin want from Father Christmas?” Gethin poked Jonathan in the ribs but settled back against his chest again, Jonathan running his fingers lightly over Gethin’s ticklish sides in retaliation.

“I don’t know, I suppose what I wanted more than anything else was to fit in and feel like I belong,” Gethin shrugged and yawned, sensing that the conversation had steered into too serious territory he amended, “but the one thing I didn’t want were socks. I hated getting socks for Christmas and every year without fail my auntie would give me a pair and then I’d say ‘Sanau! Diolch. Doedd dim rhaid i chi.’ Jonathan threw back his head and laughed when Gethin translated it for him.

 

Mike had often wondered in the beginning what drove Mark to be the way he was. Then he had made peace with the fact that he was likely never to find out the exact reason why Mark had decided that he must single-handedly save the planet. Then he’d thought that perhaps that was just the way Mark had been born: loud, brash, incredibly kind and caring and surprisingly sensitive. In the end it didn’t matter anymore, he simply loved Mark and that was all he needed. So he almost dropped his bucket in surprise when Mark one freezing cold December afternoon said, “You must wonder sometimes why I go to all this trouble.” Mike assumed that the trouble he was referring to was the fact that they were standing in the sleet shaking buckets with the slogan “Let everyone celebrate Christmas” however, no one was in a very giving mood. 

Mike hummed non-committedly because he was in no way prepared to answer the question that closely followed Mark’s namely, why did Mike go through so much trouble to support Mark in whatever he was doing?

“I suppose it’s because as a child I grew up in an environment that was so fraught and hostile that the only thing I ever wished for was peace.”

Mike turned to stare at Mark not having expected this. 

“That’s a surprisingly deep wish for a little child,” he said and Mark looked away for a moment, shrugging.

“Then I realised that it wasn’t going to happen so I decided that I would make it happen myself...and here we are.” The last part he said with a short laugh.

“Yes, here we are indeed,” Mike said thoughtfully, shaking his bucket at the family walking past them. How could he not love this selfless man beside him, he wondered and knew once again that there was no place he’d rather be than by Mark Ashton’s side.

**Author's Note:**

> ‘Sanau! Diolch. Doedd dim rhaid i chi.’ Socks? Aww, you shouldn't have.
> 
> Thank you for reading. Kudos and Comments are like chocolate.


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